Luke 11:1-13

It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’” Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”^[1

Does prayer work? Absolutely! These thirteen verses deal with Luke’s favorite topic: prayer. He begins with instruction on how to prayer and concludes with a parable that provides encouragement to pray. The parable highlights both our Heavenly Father’s willingness to answer prayer as well as what happens when one persists in prayer. In so doing, it demonstrates how worthwhile it is to persist in prayer even when it appears that our praying is in vain. Luke writes, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will Your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

These verses serve as an important reminder to those who are ambivalent toward prayer. We have a tendency to either doubt the efficacy of prayer or to place more confidence in what we can accomplish in our own strength and power than we do in God. We want to believe in the miraculous but wonder whether they still happen in our time. So the words of Jesus are strongly encouraging if we have faith to believe, “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.” Does prayer work? Try it in faith and find out for yourself.

 Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for hearing us when we pray. Thank You for being near to us to care for us. Now quicken us to our prayerlessness. Enliven us to tell of Your mighty deeds. Use us to tell a dying world about the One who cares and is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or think. Stimulate a deep desire to commune more fully and completely with You, and then hear our earnest cry and answer bye and bye. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Lk 11:1–13.